The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1887-09-01

| tD61e IS ltItllC, uluSl Vi II III swamp
filled with luxuriant vegetation, while
there are vast stretches of the Ions
leaf pine which formerly yielded the
staple of North Carolina commerce.
tar, pitch and turpentine. The Croa
tans now living there number 5000
They have enrolled nearly 1900 chill
dren of school age. They have
twenty-six churches, and are divided
into Baptists and Methodists. They
have in the past few months built good
school houses. The very best road
in all the state is found there. A cen
tury or more ago they opened the
great Lowry road from Robson tc
Campbellton "a historic Scotch settle
ment) and this was used as post road
until railroads came. 1t was along
this road that fast riding couriers car
ried the tidings of the treaty Of Client
to Gen. Jackson at New Orleans in
1875.
Very careful inquiries were made to
ascertain the past history to this tribe.
The Croatans came to Robson county
(then Bladen) between 1915 and 1882.
An investigation Of land grants in
their possession was made. The oldest
grant that could be discovered is dated
in 1892, and by it King George Ii
granted large tract to two chief men
of the tribe, named Henry Berry and
James Lowry, or Lowrie, who "came
from Virginia" as tradition has it, for
the Croatans yet speak of Eastern
North Carolina as Virginia" There
is said to be a grant by George III to
John White but it cannot be discov-
cred. The name of John White is
very suggestive. Over twenty names
of Whites lost colonists are to-day
among them.
Many inquiries were made as to
tribal traditions. The tradition is
common that the tribe formerly in
habite6 the country around Pamlico
Sound, including portions of what are
now CaTteret and Hide counties and
all of Tyrrel and Dare. Among the
Lowry family there is tradition that
their "teythers' (fathers) lived on the
shores Of Lake Matamuskeet in Hide
county before they came to Robson
comfy. The best informed men say
that Croatan was the name of place,
and that the name was later given the
tribe by the English. An intelligent
Croatan clergyman says that the true
tribal name is Hatteras Cor Hattorask,
as the Croatans call it). Now here is
another link. The Hattorask Indians
are the ones who were on Roanoke
Island when Whites colony landed.
No Indians lived habitually on the
island they only went there to fish or
hunt, or perhaps for greater coolness
in summer.
Another tradition, we'll preserved,
gives another link in the chain of evil
denCe. 1t is that Lake Matamuskeet,
before alluded to, was s.burnt lake."
or "lake burnt out of the ground.'
And SO it was, wonderful as it may
seem. The soil Of Hyde is all peat,
and in dry seasons, it occasionally
catches on fire. In such a case the
very land itself is consumed and pits
or depressions are formed, which pres
emily fill with water. The best evi-
dence is that in vast fire, perhaps
centuries ago, Lake Matamuskeet was
thus formed. 1t is thirty miles long,
at no place over eight feet deep, and
not a fish Of any kind has ever been
seen in its waters.
But yet facts were discovered. The
language of the Croatans is peculiar in
tone. They use but two sounds of the
letter IA broad sound Of a as in
father and the sound of as in date.
Dare is pronounced Darr. The name
of Virginia Dare is familiar to their
chronicles. The Darr family name
has disappeared in Robson county,
but is found among branch of the
tribe in Lincoln county, N. c. One
of the Darrs served as a soldier in the
United States army in the war of 1912.
Their language is peculiar in that it is
strictly Anglo Saxon. 1t contains
many words in common use which
have been obsolete for a long period
in most of England. For instance,
" housen" is the plural of house;
crone' is to push down; for "ask"
they say "aks' (Old English); for
" father" they say "feyther.'' knowl-
edge is spoken of as 90 wit
As to family names, over twenty of
those held by the long lost colonists
are found. James pronounced i'll the
old English way, Jeames). Lowry is
a very common name among them.
The name of Locklear is also found,
and Cuzzie Locklear is one of the old
est living members. The name Dial
was formerly Doyle. The name Coins
was once O'Gwinn. Priscilla and
Rhoda are the most common names
of women, and Henry that of men.
One of the oldest men is Aaron Revels,
who is more than one hundred years
of age. He is an uncle of Senator
Revels, of Mississippi.
The prevalence of the name Lowry
has been referred to. According to
tradition a man named James Lowry
~ ]